Lift rental in Vågå

Log houses and storehouses need careful access

An old farmyard is not made for machines. The buildings stand close together, the gateway between them can be narrow, and the ground is often old grass, stone slabs or dry-stone walls that cannot take heavy wheels. At the same time, you need to reach the eaves, the ridge or the chimney.

Here it pays to think about ground pressure and footprint before height. A small trailer lift with support pads under the outriggers spreads the weight well. Where there is no room to turn with a trailer, a tracked lift can be driven in between the buildings and set up where wheels cannot get to. See the Hered HA12CEA tracked lift, which is electric and quiet.

Also think about what is under the platform. Old roof tiles, slate and window panes cannot take things falling on them, so cordon off the area and ideally lay a tarpaulin over anything delicate.

Turf roofs, tar and gutters

Turf roofs need clearing of scrub and weeds, and the turf must be replaced when it gets thin. Log walls need tarring or oiling, bargeboards and fascia boards replacing, and gutters straightening after winter. These are all jobs where a lift is safer and faster than a ladder, especially on gable walls that are taller than they look from the farmyard.

With a trailer lift you can move the platform along the whole wall without moving the lift. That saves time when you work along a long barn wall or around a storehouse on posts.

The church and other tall buildings

The old timber church at Vågåmo and other large buildings in the village need more outreach than an ordinary house. Towers, high roofs and windows high up usually require a larger trailer lift, an articulating boom lift or a boom lift that can reach over the eaves and in.

Lifts like these are kept at the main depot in Lillehammer and driven up with our own transport. If you are unsure about the height, see the height and outreach chart, or call us with the building's measurements.

The equipment in Lom

At Gausdal Landhandleri in Lom we have the Dino 135TB and 180XTB trailer lifts, a scissor lift, a 1.9-tonne Kubota mini excavator, a plate compactor and scaffold trailers. That covers most jobs in a farmyard. The Lom depot's phone number is +47 941 71 111, and it is open Mon–Fri 07–17, Sat 09–15.

The mini excavator is useful when the foundation needs draining or a trench needs digging beside an old house, and it is small enough to get in between the buildings.

If you are unsure whether to collect or have it delivered, call the Lom depot. You get instruction either way, whether you collect in Lom or we come to the farmyard.

Dry summer, cold winter

Ottadalen gets little rainfall, and the sun shines on the south walls for long hours in summer. Tar and oil on the logs therefore last best when applied in dry weather, ideally late in summer when the timber is completely dry.

Winter is cold and long. Frozen ground can seem firm, but it thaws quickly in spring and turns soft. So plan heavier lift jobs in the farmyard for when the ground has settled after the thaw, and you avoid wheel ruts in the grass.

From Vågåvatnet to Jotunheimen

Along Vågåvatnet and national road 15 there are farms, houses and commercial buildings, while the cabins lie higher up and inland towards Jotunheimen in the south. At the cabin there is often a tall glass section to clean, a chimney to render or a roof to paint.

For cabin roads, the same applies as elsewhere in the mountains: check that the road can take the weight and is cleared of snow, and that it is flat enough to set out the outriggers.